[Diaspora] Social Combat Map for a Court Martial

[Jeffrey Hosmer]

I think I'd like to keep the "guilty judge" as he could then be the focus of
composure attacks, if the PCs try to get him to have a "You can't HANDLE the
Truth!" moment.

I'll have to consder the amalgam PC.

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 1:16 PM, C. W. Marshall <toph at interchange.ubc.ca>wrote:

>
>
> Hi! Welcome to Diaspora.
>
> This sounds great. It'll be a very full session teaching Diaspora and
> showing off all four minigames, but I really look forward to hearing what
> happens! (Post it somewhere, and we send you dice!).
>
> As for the social combat specifically, there are multiple ways of doing it.
> First off, is the "guilty" judge capable of changing his mind? If not, then
> don't put him on the board -- the prosecutor is enough. If he is (and that's
> more interesting), then, it's a question of initial placement -- he starts
> off in the guilty circle, but perhaps can be persuaded away.
>
> If there's three judges represented, then victory can be set either as the
> first side to get two judges into their circle (guilty/innocent) (you could
> also see where the judges are at the end of x turns, and see if they lean
> towards guilt or innocence. If the guilty judge won't budge, it'll probably
> be simpler just to have a single token representing the judicial opinion --
> if it ends in the guilty circle, then pcs lose; if not and the clock runs
> out then they win. The in contempt idea is cool -- It need not be circles of
> course -- that could be done with maneuvers placing aspects, and then
> tagging them: putting "dodgy argument" or "violating standard military code
> of justice" could be fun.
>
> You might also want to consider an amalgam pc for the defendants, as in the
> example in the book -- one relevant skill from each player, filling ot a
> notional meta-pyramid will reduce the number of tokens on the board.
>
> Hope this helps!
>
>
>   On 6-Nov-09, at 9:56 AM, Jeffrey Hosmer wrote:
>
>   Hi, everyone... this is my first post.  I'm just starting out as a
> Diaspora GM, and I love the game, but I'm having trouble coming up with a
> Social Combat map.
>
> I'm hosting a mini-con near Washington, DC (see
> http://story-games.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=10692 for the
> details) and I thought it would be fun to run the Diaspora mini-games as a
> loosely linked con game.  Basically, a group of pre-gens will be involved in
> a last-ditch ground combat scenario as their side evacuates a planet
> (Platoon Combat), fight off infiltrators on their escape vessel (Personal
> Combat), break through a space blockade (Space Combat), and then face a
> court martial trumped up by a superior officer who wants to blame the whole
> mess on them (Social Combat.)
>
> Coming up with zone maps for the first three combats isn't too bad, as they
> generally map to physical features... but I'm having trouble visualizing the
> proper social combat map for a court martial.  Being a military trial, I
> imagine it's got a tribunal of three officers as judges, a prosecutor, and
> the PCs.
>
> My general idea is one where the map has concentric circles around "Guilty"
> and "Innocent" and they try to move two of the tribunal members to
> "Innocent" while the prosecutor tries to move them to "Guilty," with a third
> series of circles representing "In Contempt," which can get a PC or the
> prosecutor thrown out of the proceedings.  But I'm not sure if this map will
> generate a good courtroom drama scene.  (One judge is already in the Guilty
> circle, as he trying to blame the mess on the PCs).
>
> The social combat mini-game is a great idea, but I'm new to it and I'm sure
> I'm missing something.  Any help would be appreciated.
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>
>
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